The room was not ornamented, save by a crucifix, a pleasant pencil-
drawing of Bishop Laval, a gun, a pair of snow-shoes, a sword, and a
little shrine in one corner, wherein were relics of a saint. Of
necessaries even there were few. They were unremarkable, save in the
case of two tall silver candlesticks, which, with their candles at an
angle from the musician, gave his face strange lights and shadows.
The priest was powerfully made; so powerful indeed, so tall was he, that
when, in one of the changes of the music, a kind of exaltation filled
him, and he came to his feet, his head almost touched the ceiling. His
shoulders were broad and strong, and though his limbs were hid by his
cassock, his arms showed almost huge, and the violin lay tucked under his
chin like a mere toy. In the eye was a penetrating but abstracted look,
and the countenance had the gravity of a priest lighted by a cheerful
soul within. It had been said of Dollier de Casson that once, attacked
by two renegade Frenchmen, he had broken the leg of one and the back of
the other, and had then picked them up and carried them for miles to
shelter and nursing. And it was also declared by the romantic that the
man with the broken back recovered, while he with the shattered leg,
recovering also, found that his foot, pointing backwards, "made a fool of
his nose.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25